FORGING YOUR OWN FATE

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story.

Notes: I'm jumping on the Celestial Forge train (pun intended).

Well, mostly and with some alterations. There is a visible crossover of Worm with "Ah My Goddess!" but apart from that, I shouldn't use others… Apart from a few..?

The main character will stay Taylor Hebert although I was tempted to have a reincarnation insertion with Greg Veder, but since I decided to completely derail canon…

Finally, please note that I'm writing after a rather long period of blank pages, so I should be a little rusty. Don't hesitate to correct me.

Prologue: Danny.

When Danny Hebert came back from another work day at the Dock Worker Union of Brockton Bay, he didn't except to have his daughter suddenly hugging him as soon as he entered the living room.

Bewildered, he nonetheless stopped himself from asking questions as he suddenly understood that she was trembling with emotions and quietly crying in his arms.

He stayed like this while hugging back as his thoughts seemed to race to understand what the hell was going on. He bitterly realized that since Annette's death, the two of them had become practically stranger in their home and life.

Did Taylor realized that too? Was she overwhelmed by the fact they were barely functional people due to the bleeding gap in their hearts?

And so he waited patiently, having himself a little cry as he relished hugging his little owl after so long… Ironic that she was taller than most girls her age.

When he felt her softening the hug and her crying slow, he walked them to the sofa and sat down, looking at his daughter taking the place on his left side with, he hoped, more than apathy showing in his eyes.

And he blinked. Taylor looked… way better than he remembered from this very morning despite the tear tracks on her cheeks.

A luxuriant waterfall of shining black hair, courtesy of her late mother, and deep green eyes that she gained from him along with her tall height. Eyes sparkling with… joy and sorrow..? Curiously her skin seemed exempt of the little acne problems so common at her age and… Did she loose the little extra-weight she seemed to have gained one year ago?

Taylor Hebert was the very picture of a healthy teenager that just went out from a full spa treatment. Hell, even her clothes, jeans and tee-shirt, were immaculate and looked brand new.

"Okay..? Well, it's visible that something happened..? So… I'm listening, Taylor."

She opened her mouth, seemed to hesitate and then softly giggled while shaking her head. "Incredible, I repeated what I have to say countless times and now, I don't know how to begin."

Danny chuckled. "Well, that happens a lot. Just to be sure. You're not in pain, danger, pregnant, recruited by a gang, about to be attacked or something like that?"

Taylor's eyes went round. "Well… This is Brockton Bay, so I shouldn't too surprised, but really, dad?" She looked at Danny with some exasperation. "Pregnant? That's something you think would happen to me at my age?"

Danny sighed. "It happens more time than you think. Especially in your age range. And since you never brought a boyfriend home, I can only say, I don't know."

Taylor looked at the floor. "Friends… Yes, that should be a good beginning. After all, I have prepared for this moment."

She waved at the kitchen table near the TV and Danny frowned as he saw fresh pots of coffee and tea along with… Was that the bottle of good scotch he was sure was hidden somewhere..?

"… a serious discussion, then..."

Taylor nodded as she seemed to brace herself. "Very serious. Literally world changing even."

Danny gulped and took a calming breath. He looked again at his daughter, but, physically at least, she really seemed unharmed. "Alright, I'm listening."

Taylor bit her lips and deadpanned "This morning, I triggered and became a Parahuman after the one I considered my sister in all but blood locked me up into my locker full of rotting tampons with the help of two accomplices, Sophia Hess and Madison Clements." Wow, talk about a first volley…

Nevertheless, there was no turning back now. Her voice wavered a little but she continued. "It should be noted that Emma Barnes ceased to be my friend and orchestrated a daily campaign of escalating bullying since I entered Winslow a year and half ago and that most of the staff either willingly ignored me or actively hid those problems due to the fact that Emma's dad is a lawyer and that Sophia is both a track star and under the PRT protection as a Ward."

Oh gods above, if she had somehow knifed him in the heart, she couldn't have affected her father more. Danny seemed to have suddenly developed the immobility of a statue.

His face paled, then reddened and paled again and his eyes acquired a flint quality. After an instant of eternity he softly talked, hiding a raging storm of wrath barely controlled. "I'll take a finger of scotch now, Taylor. No, better make it two, please?"

Danny let the fire of the liquid settle in his stomach as he relied on a lifetime of training working with the DWU to stay calm as he analyzed what his daughter unleashed upon him… Correction, what was unleashed on her for 18 months.

Trigger Event.

The situation implied by those words was a bittersweet memory of him and his wife discussing the potential for Taylor to become a Parahuman. Due to her experience with Lustrum, Ann was more aware of the mechanism behind the activation of the Corona Gemma into a Corona Pollentia. Basically, ALL Parahumans experienced a deep trauma that "triggered" the barely known organ in their brains. In brief, their worst moments.

And it has been done by his daughter's best friend since childhood…

He blinked. He knew that Winslow was a den of gang recruiting for the Empire Eighty Eight, the Azn Bad Boys and the Merchants. Taylor entered there instead of Arcadia only because she wanted to follow Emma in this school…

He forced himself to relax his hand lest he shattered the empty glass of scotch. There was a very perplexing point. "… Everything seems centered on Emma. But, why did she do that?"

Taylor sighed and shook her head. Even after all this time under the care of the Norns, it felt like a raw wound in her heart. "Emma Barnes and her father were attacked by the ABB during the time I was in this summer camp after mom's death."

And that was the crux of the matter. Her eyes shone with restrained tears as she continued. "Emma was traumatized and became fixated on her savior, Sophia Hess aka Shadow Stalker who was still a vigilante at that time."

Her hands clenched with the pain of her heart. "Emma unconsciously resented me for not being there to help her. She focused on Sophia and somewhat rebuilt her self-confidence around her world view about strong and weak people."

She shook her head with despondence. "In her mind, I became the obvious incarnation of her past weakness that let her at the mercy of the ABB. However, at the same time, I was her best friend and she wanted me to rejoin her at her side."

There was a mirthless laugh. "From there a vicious loop began as she tried to toughen me up while she still resented me for not having saved her."

"Right…" Danny double face-palmed and drew a deep breath to calm himself. He couldn't afford to rage… At least, not yet. "I won't ask yet how you can know that or how I'm sure you're telling me the whole truth… Or even how you can be so calm... What about her father?"

Taylor sighed as she contemplated the actions of someone she truly called family. Could she consider him like that again? "Uncle Alan doesn't know, aunt Zoe and Anne too. They were so happy that Emma seemed to regain her balance after the aggression by associating with Sophia that they simply ignored all the signs pointing to a problem like the fact that I ceased coming to the Barnes home."

She snorted with derision. She didn't do better herself at those moments. "And, of course, Emma made sure they wouldn't suspect anything. And so, he didn't ensure she saw a professional with which she could talk about it."

Ah, at last… A target. "So, Shadow Stalker is responsible."

A Mona Lisa smile appeared on his daughter's lips. "No. As a Parahuman, she's also a traumatized girl."

Oh boy, yes she was. "She triggered at thirteen while escaping a near-rape done by her biological father."

Her hands clenched with contained righteous anger. "She then cobbled a philosophy of sort based on her experiences, centered on a predator-prey situation in the Brockton Bay community. A place where the predators make the laws and the preys obey or are destroyed."

Taylor contemplated acknowledging that Sophia was kind of right, but… "She also hates anyone she can't beat in a fight, fair or not. Emma presented a golden opportunity to her psyche by being someone she could covert to her philosophy and thus proving that it was the true Truth of the world." And that was the reason she couldn't forgive yet the so-called heroine.

Danny sighed and massaged his brow. He should have known that nothing was fully black or white. Still... "What about the PRT? They must know about all that."

Ah, the PRT... Created with good intentions, crippled by those who should have supported it. Plus, the little proverb about good intentions and hell. "Not in the truest sense. As I said, Shadow Stalker was a vigilante. But she didn't choose to join the Wards."

Oh boy, yes! She didn't choose. "She was caught and presented with either join the Wards or go to juvenile detention. The PRT view on such a Parahuman is better they join us where we can control them than having another Villain in the streets."

Taylor shook her head with almost despair because of the cherry on the top. "And despite her flawed view, Hess considers herself a hero. Sophia then abused her friendship with Emma and Alan Barnes agreed to be her guarantor."

Taylor took a sip of tea to soothe her dry throat and regain her frayed calm. "Dad, you have to understand that the ENE PRT and local Protectorate are severely under-powered compared to the three main gangs in Brockton Bay. It's their team coordination and their better resources that allowed them to somewhat maintain the status quo."

Unfortunately, on the moral and mind-care side… "But they have no effective reinforcement or support and the Wards' mandatory psych sessions were either ignored or canceled to put another body where they needed it."

She had a bittersweet smile. "Sophia then took profit from the cold war situation between the Youth Guard and the PRT staff to simply pass under the radar."

Some anger filtered in her voice as she thought about a "responsible adult" who should have known better. "Even her watcher in the PRT is doing the minimal, accepting her reports from Winslow as gospel truth."

She shrugged and forced herself to be objective. "That said, the Wards are better than her as they still open their hands to her despite her barely suppressed anger since she she considers them weak due to the rules they follow."

Danny looked at the ceiling… Why was he looking at the ceiling? He knew that ceiling… It wasn't as if it was an unfamiliar ceiling, right..? "Right. Well… not right per Se, but I can understand if not accept it. And Clements?"

Taylor snorted and her laugh sounded hollow. "I pity her."

With a good dose of contempt too. "She wanted to be accepted in school and so she went with the most popular clique around Emma. She then took a rather slippery path and she fully realized how deep she was only after the locker."

Taylor shook her head, closing her eyes. Too little, too late. "Her bullying was mainly considered as light with minor daily inconveniences apart from the few times when she stole or sabotaged my homework. Like Emma and Sophia, her family don't know about the situation at Winslow."

Opening her eyes, she looked at her father with almost apathy. "Before you ask, dad, the rest of the students either participated in the bullying a few times, ignored me as they were unconcerned gang members or deliberately closed their eyes as they feared retaliation from the Terrible Trio."

Danny felt concerned about the visible detachment of his daughter regarding her peers. Could they still be considered as peers? "The Terrible Trio?"

Taylor shook herself. It wouldn't do her any good to feel such an apathy for those people. "Their nickname in school."

She snickered. "They don't realize what both the faculty and the students truly think of them. Once they're out of school, their little kingdom will crash and burn as no one knowing them will ever trust them as adults."

Danny frowned as he assembled a picture of the overall situation. Not a good one. For either of the people concerned, especially if… When he'll have a few words and do few things… Probably violent things. "I'm beginning to see. And now, for the elephant in the room: You said that the locker was this morning, so what happened after that and before you came home this evening?"

Taylor finally had a small, real smile and nodded at her father. "Perspective, dad. In the locker, there was only one thing I could even think about: To escape, to be out."

Her hands clenched at the remembered trauma. "So, my Parahuman power made me escape, by crossing over the dimensional barrier beyond what we currently know about the other parallels Earths like Earth Aleph. I exited our dimensional cluster and entered another one."

One that was a very, very and very long way out. "I came to in another Japan, at the Tariki Hongan Temple and was taken in by the residents." She smiled with mischief. "Brace yourself, dad. They are the Three Norns of Norse Mythology."

Danny's jaw metaphorically hit the floor. "You're kidding! They must be Parahumans with the names of the Norns?"

Taylor laughed. She was a bit worried about the barrage of revelations she unleashed on her father, but it had to be done. "Nope. Well, more exactly they were aspects, a small portion incarnated as a divine avatar if you prefer, of the entities presiding over Fate and Destiny that we called the Norns."

She tried to restrain her laugh in vain. "And the reason why they were in Japan? One of them has a mortal boyfriend and they both wished to remain together forever."

Following a liberating laugh, she then sighed and looses her smile. "I… wasn't in great shape when I arrived, dad. Mental trauma, my Parahuman power freshly activated, screaming myself hoarse and the bloody waste, full of bio-contaminants clinging to my body and infecting me via the scratches I got when I tried to open the locker from within." She looked at her now trembling hands. Perhaps, despite the care of the Norns, she never truly healed from her Trigger Event.

Danny took her again in his arms as she managed to continue her painful explanation. "Their powers, while being limited, were immense and they investigated why I was here before deciding to help me as much as they could and were permitted."

She sighed in relief as something severely stressed uncoiled inside her through the warmth of her father. "They took me in and healed my body, mind and soul. From my perspective, I passed a few years under their wing as I rebuilt myself. I'm warning you dad, this is where it'll be weird."

Danny blinked with incredulity. "Because the precedents weren't? I just learned that you were absent for years on your end." He rolled up his eyes. "Well, consider me warned… Perhaps a triple finger of scotch later."

Taylor nodded and took strength from his embrace. "They quickly decided that If I was to return, I was ill-prepared for whatever is happening in our world."

A teary smile graced her lips as she thought about the magnificent gift she then received. "The youngest of them, one Skuld Odindotter of the Ravenhair chooses to adopt me as her Word-Daughter. It's a sort of blood adoption where Existence itself acknowledges that fact despite the lack of related blood."

She looked into her father's eyes with solemnity. "I'm still Taylor Ann Hebert, daughter of Danny and Ann Hebert, your child, but I am also the daughter of the Norn of Tomorrow. The marks I'm willing to reveal now on my face are the proof of that."

Danny blinked and looked at the three facial dark blue marks that materialized on his daughter. He lightly traced the circle with a central dot on her forehead and examined the solid, sharp inverted triangles on her cheeks.

Well… What to do when your daughter joined a pantheon..? "So… Does that mean, you are a goddess now?"

Taylor merrily laughed and Danny felt relieved she could still do that. "Nope, not yet. I'm still mortal, dad. You can consider me as a demigod like in the Greek Mythology. But the potential is there. I was told that I could easily become a deity of Technology here if I so desire and work for it."

Danny gently released her daughter and sighed looking at the ceiling, equal joy and sorrow in his heart. "The Goddess of Technology of Earth Bet... I would really like that triple finger of scotch now, Taylor. Please?"